Almost since the beginning of film actors have been altering their appearances to be more “screen worthy” and to look younger or appeal to a wider audience. The studio system led to a series of “Doc Hollywoods” back in the day. But, now many celebrities who get work done are much less concerned with the secrecy of it all. In 2013 medical files pertaining to the plastic surgeries of Marylin Monroe were auctioned off showing that at least some of the rumors around her surgeries were true. Recently Golden Globe winner and children’s author, Jamie Lee Curtis, has come forward with how the pressures of the industry impacted her own surgeries.
The actress opened up in an interview for Fast Company and said that things like plastic surgery and filters for Zoom and social media are “wiping out generations of beauty”. She detailed how she felt embarrassed when a cameraman commented on her under eye bags years ago and how she sought a procedure to fix them almost immediately after.
That procedure spurred an addiction to pain killers for Curtis, who has now been sober for more than 2 decades. She also decried the state of beauty when young people compare themselves to others, only to be let down since many of the standards perpetuated in the media are unattainable for most people.
Curtis went on to say that social media has only made things worse, with “long-term physical and mental effects” that cannot yet be calculated. Her biggest words of wisdom from that interview have to be, “Once you mess with your face, you can’t get it back.” And, it’s so true.
